Evening English Service, Sunday 5th September 2021

hmm uh so so come on so so so once again we extend a very warm welcome to you all to the service tonight um and also if you're joining us online we're glad to have you with us as well pray that together we'll know the lord's blessing upon our meeting together for worship one or two things from the notice board from the bulletin sheet rather do notice the monthly prayer meeting on zoom only that's tomorrow night at 7 30 and there's the prayer link with muriel on on the tuesday that's at 11 a.m also on zoom the services throughout the week you can see them there just a reminder the return of free will offering envelopes there's a notice for that if you need to bring some back for somebody else you can do so as well uh just read through there it'll be open the hall will be open on saturday the 11th from 2 to 4 p.m for that and also for the presentation to mark the retirement of our brother reverend kenya mcleod um there's a notice for that as well that'll be on friday the 17th at 7 30. we're going to be using the church here the church building rather than the hall that will make things easier with the pressing circumstances and you need to book for this one so again if you wish to attend just book by just getting in touch with lorraine schuen by phone not by email the details are there um there's also going to be a live stream for those who will not be able to come to the church and finally the wfm conference that takes place on saturday the 18th from 11 a.m to 12 30 p.m and the speaker is anne allen former chair of su scotland and crossreach now that's going to be available in the seminary um and also if you do come you can uh if you wish to donate there's no charge but if you wish to donate to this year's projects you can do that at that time at that occasion that's also going to be available online on youtube by the website mentioned their our own website so um these are all the intimations i think i need to mention this evening so we'll begin our worship we're singing first of all tonight from psalm 47 psalm 47 that's in the scottish psalter version on page 272. we're singing from verse 5 down to the end of the psalm goddess with shouts gone up the lord with trumpets sounding high sing praise to god sing praise sing praise praise to our god sing ye for god is king of all the earth with knowledge praise express god rules the nations god sits on his throne of holiness the princes of the people are assembled willingly even of the god of abraham they who the people be for why the shields that do defend the earth are only his they to the lord belong ye he great exalted greatly is these verses god is with shouts gone up the lord with trumpets sounding high [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] exalted [Music] unite now in prayer we're going to call upon the lord in prayer let's pray together oh lord our gracious god it is about you that we have been singing as we have been singing praises to your name for your greatness and for the way in which you are ascended up on high and we thank you that that has come to pass particularly in the resurrection and exaltation of our lord jesus christ and we thank you lord that while it has been the case that you have always been praised by your people down through the ages as a god who is high and lifted up and majestic you have come particularly through your son jesus christ to reveal the exalted nature of your being and the way in which especially in him you have come to bring your people to be joined with him so that they too will come to be raised to reign together with him we thank you tonight lord for that prospect but the confidence it brings to us as we consider these great issues pertaining to our god we ask lord that you would bless us here by your presence once again we pray for the power of your holy spirit to enable us to see into your word things that will reflect more of your glory and give us an increased understanding of these things we thank you for all that we cannot understand for the truths concerning you that are too great for us to comprehend fully in that extent and we thank you lord tonight that we come to a god who is so immense and so great and so glorious and yet who has prepared at all times to share with us uh those things that pertain to your salvation you come alongside us and you have come to take our very nature to yourself and you have come lord to show to us your concern for our well-being in sending your own son into the world to die the death of the cross lord humble us we pray once again in your presence while we come to you who is so majestic and so holy and so high and lifted up yet we give thanks that we can approach you and we can come and fall on our knees in your presence and that we can come lord to seek your help we bless you for all that we already know concerning you and we thank you that you have revealed to us all that is necessary for us to know for our salvation in your word we thank you for these great features of your redemption that we find set out for us in your word of truth and lord we pray that you would enable us once again tonight as we turn our mind to your word that you would enable us to further our understanding of it enable both in speaking and in hearing alike that we may lord hear your voice and that we may know that the lord again has met with us bless every gathering of your people tonight throughout the world we know that there are many people lord gathered as we are in various places in the world in very different circumstances to ours and some with very similar circumstances too you have your people throughout the whole of the world you have your people gathered you have your people called by you you have your people where they are unable to gather we thank you lord that in being in control of you the government of the world of the providence that affects each and every human life that you alone are god that you have purposed all of these things to take place so that you would be glorified ultimately through them and lord while we cannot understand much of that also when we see some of the things that take place in our world some of the disasters some of the conflicts and so many other issues that cause us to stress will help us we pray to carry all of these things and our concerns over them into your presence and enable us we pray lord to come as we pray to you to realize that you hear us that your ear is ever open to the cry of your people that you are willing that we should always come and unburden our hearts to you in a way that we cannot with anyone else we pray for your blessing lord on your church throughout the world and we pray for the gospel to be advanced and to be used powerfully in the hand of your holy spirit lord we pray for your kingdom to be advanced we pray that you would bless every effort made to bring the gospel into places in the world whereas yet it is hardly known and we do ask that all who carry your word as missionaries and as those who serve you in very difficult circumstances at times will know your blessing and we pray that lord as we find much in the world that would uh suggest to us that the gospel is being hampered yet lord we know from your word that sometimes it is in the in these very circumstances that god is most active and you have proved yourself down through the generations to be a god who has surprised even his very people by the way in which you have come to show your great power and your wisdom even through the events of providence we ask your blessing lord to be tonight with all that we comment comment to you bless uh all who belong to us as a congregation of your people bless every home connected to us bless every individual in these homes are connected with them we pray for your blessing o lord so that we will come and know increasingly of the drawing power of your spirit by bringing us to know and to enjoy more of that eternal life and that even in times of trial and sorrow and difficulty we may nevertheless by your grace be able to rejoice in the lord our god remember our young people be with them we pray and our children bless them lord as they have some participation in the worship of your name at home or in church gatherings we pray your blessing will follow what they hear of the gospel what is taught to them in sunday school and in homes in their own homes in youth fellowship and even in the creche may it be pleasing to you along with the tweenies group to bless all these gatherings that take place and we thank you for the return of these meetings today and pray that you would grant lord that it may be possible for us to maintain them in these weeks ahead now we ask that you bless all who are grieving tonight over the death of loved ones those who miss loved ones and it may indeed have been many years lord since they were taken out of this world yet the pain and the emptiness goes on and the sorrow in these hearts we pray that you would bless them and build up and bind up their hearts we pray fill them with their own comfort give them direction in their lives help them to trust in you even when it's difficult to do so grant oh lord that we may never doubt your wisdom that we may never doubt all that you do by way of the government of our lives and we pray that your blessing will be with her our people the nation we belong to lord we know that we have been through so many difficulties over this past year and a half and yet we find lord that there seems to be little response by way of turning to god on the part of so many and we pray that you'd use reflection even upon this pandemic to bring people to realize the most important issues in life but especially lord we pray that you'd bless the gospel that you'll bring people to realize their need of that salvation that is held out for us and your word of truth we pray for our government and ask that you'd bless them both here locally and and also nationally we pray that you'll bless those who have these great responsibilities over us as a nation and lord we ask that us we sometimes find ourselves so bewildered by decisions that are taken and find ourselves disagreeing with some of what is brought to be placed on the statute book of the nation lord we ask nevertheless that you would help us to bear them before you as you call upon us to do in your word to pray for those who are in authority and we do so even tonight as we bring them before you oh lord give them wisdom we pray give them to be turned away from the foolishness of worldliness and from that which is of mere human device and invention and granted you would deliver us all o lord from that which is of our own thinking our own sinful thinking our own selfish thinking and give us oh lord that our thoughts may be after the after your truth and after the guidance of your spirit and so lord hear us now continue with us in this worship and blessed to us this day and pardon our sin for jesus sake amen we're going to read now from god's word and the first reading is from ii timothy chapter 4 and verses 1 to 8. ii timothy chapter 4 and verses 1-8 then we'll turn to read in philippians continuing with our studies in philippians chapter 1 and we'll read the passage we're going to look at this evening from chapter 1 verse 12 down to verse 18. so first of all in ii timothy chapter 4 verses 1 to 8 i charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths as for you always be sober-minded endure suffering do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry for i am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come i have fought a good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faith henceforth that has laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing and if we turn to philippians and chapter 1 verses 12 to 18. philippians 1 at verse 12. i want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for christ and most of the brothers having become confident in the lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear some indeed preach christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill the latter do it out of love knowing that i am put here for the defense of the gospel the former proclaim christ out of rivalry not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment what then only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth christ is proclaimed and in that i rejoice and we pray god will bless uh to us these readings of his own word like us to turn to the second reading there in philippians and just to continue with our studies through the letter to the philippians we're going to take this passage from verse 12 to verse 18 this evening paul had a two-fold purpose in writing this letter to the philippians we're taking it that he wrote from prison in rome that's the most acceptable position i think as to where his imprisonment was at this time and that he was waiting the outcome of his trial in rome which was going to be before caesar himself and that judiciary there and the two-fold purpose that he had on writing this to the philippians was firstly to assure them of his well-being to actually give some information about himself and his condition and what things were like where he was and that was important to the apostle because this was a church this church in philippi that loved him deeply that respected him greatly and uh were concerned for him and were concerned to find out what his situation was and what better way than by a letter from paul himself so it was firstly to give information to the church in philippi about himself and about his circumstances but secondly paul undoubtedly had in mind the purpose secondly to give some direction and teaching to them as to how to act under suffering how to regard suffering for the lord's sake how to act under that or how to react under that or not react under that but throughout the letter you find him speaking about himself like in this passage of his circumstances in prison and something of what that imprisonment entails but along with that he actually calls upon them to use that by way of applying it to their own circumstances too for example he talks about not having rivalry not thinking about others in any way other than better than themselves and so on in chapter two so he's really giving them an example by speaking of himself in the way he does as to how to conduct themselves in these difficult circumstances that they too are experiencing as christians in the world and of course that becomes a very important point as you read through the letter in applying it to ourselves whatever our difficulties and trials may be here is something in paul's letter to the philippians that we can take and apply directly to these circumstances and follow out his reasoning as to how we should think of god and of ourselves and of the church and of god's people during these situations now when he's saying here about his imprisonment as he mentions there in verse 13 it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard that my imprisonment is for christ if you think of the older authorized version it's actually the word chains that you find used and that's literally the word in greek that's used here by the apostle that my chains are for christ he is actually literally chained that would be the practice at the time paul would be constantly chained to a roman soldier probably by the ankle and while he had a measure of freedom he could have some people coming to visit him he was obviously free to write letters uh to have people to to speak to that came to see him and so on but i was certainly not an easy situation being constantly chained day in day out to a roman soldier and with all that that meant and by way of discomfort and pain and probably cuts to his leg as well um but what he's doing is really telling the philippians how to evaluate that sort of suffering you see in verse verses 28 to 30 there he says don't be frightened in anything by your opponents this is a clear sign to them of their destruction but of your salvation and that for god for from god for it has been granted to you that for the sake of christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake engaged in the same conflict that you saw i had and now here that i still have you see he's directing him there to his own circumstances but directing the master how they must deal with the circumstances that they themselves are in and it's interesting there in verse 29 it has been granted to you the word is literally gifted and it's an amazing use of the word because what paul is really saying is that suffering isn't in the way that god puts it into the experience of his people and uses it in the experience of his people it's his gift to them it's an aspect of his gifting to them things which are actually to their benefit which is an amazing thing itself as you uh see the use of that word there well we'll come to that god willing whenever we reach the end of near the end of the chapter but here he is talking here in this in this passage verses 12 to 18 and would take it under two main headings first of all he's talking about the gospels advance in verses 12 and 13. i want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard many some of them would be caesar's own bodyguards and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for christ he's really saying to them this is actually what i want you to understand what has happened to me has not hampered the gospel it's not been something that's kept the gospel back it's actually been the other way about what has happened to me i want you to know brothers that this has really served to advance the gospel and the word really is really the word really there is emphatic in the way the apostle uses it he's saying to these philippians these christians that he loves and that love him i really want you to understand that this has really happened the gospel has indeed been advanced by what has happened to me and that's happened first of all in the emperor's own household caesar's household the imperial guard right in the very depths of of the administration of caesar the great emperor himself in rome this is what's happening the lord is actively blessing the imprisonment of paul so that even through the imperial guard and caesar's household it is known that his imprisonment is actually for christ what a remarkable thing to say now you see often the actions of the enemies of the gospel rebound on themselves or actually to put another way the actions of the enemies of the gospel sometimes actually serve to advance the gospel like for example of acts chapter 12 where you find the persecution against the church uh they're outlined by by luke as he wrote the book of acts and it was of course under herod at the time the herod that was there in charge at the time um and uh you remember of course that he killed james and threw peter into prison thinking that that would actually stem the advance of this gospel is teaching about jesus and all that was associated with it and in any case it came to the point where herod actually took a very serious attack and illness and died and the lord's angel struck him down because he did not give god the glory and was eaten by worms and breathed his last very graphic details of the demise the end of herald he had been just uh in tired and sidon they came to him and they just extolled him as if he were a god he came out and sat on his throne they made a great speech people were shouting it's the voice of a god and not of a man the angel of the lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and then you see then you have this luke just very matter of fact saying but the word of the lord increased and multiplied here's herod who's trying to actually put the word of god under wraps and bringing it so that it's it's uh it's stifled by putting these people in prison by killing james there's herod's purpose there's herod's intention that's what he's trying to do that's his purpose and yet here is luke saying well herod is dead herod collapsed and died but the word of the lord increased and multiplied you know sometimes i ask myself what's happening in the likes of afghanistan what's happening in the likes of places in the world where there's great conflict is there anything more than conflict is there anything more than what you see on the surface is there anything more than what you see in the news bulletins well maybe not but very often is the case that the gospel is actually being advanced that people as christians are emboldened be as we'll see in a minute beyond what is normally the case through the persecutions and the difficulties that have come upon them and instead of actually instead of the gospel actually uh being thwarted or held back or stemmed it's actually advanced and you know when you're praying for the church in afghanistan when you're praying for the church in iraq or in syria or whatever else it is you're praying for remember that very often god is at work in a way that surprises us when we hear about it the very things that you might think in our human thinking in the way that we ourselves tend to look at things the very things that you might think would actually stem the gospel and would actually be a barrier to the gospel god actually uses them in order to advance the gospel that's what he's saying here that's what paul is actually saying if you were asked the question how could we evangelize caesar's bodyguards how could we actually reach into the imperial palace with the gospel or how could we encourage christians in rome so that they were actually made more bold or more confident or courageous in reaching out with the gospel throughout the city the last thing you and i will probably think of was ask god to put his chief apostle in prison in rome but that's what he did this was god's method of advancing the gospel even to the extent of the imperial guard in caesar's household he put paul his apostle in prison in rome and now he's saying brothers i want you to know what has actually happened to me has served really served to advance the gospel and verse seven um we've seen going through that uh how in verse seven if you cast your mind back where he says in my imprisonment your partakers with me both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel and he is set here for the defense he i've been set there he's saying uh put here for the defense of the gospel in verse seven um in my imprisonment i've been set here what has happened to me is by god's appointment is what he means and so [Music] he's really saying something remarkable that despite what you see or might think outwardly god is actually advancing his kingdom advancing his own cause advancing the gospel by what's happened there paul is viewing his circumstances through that lens of god being in charge and that's a really liberating thought at all times whenever you come to actually take stock of your situation whenever you come to ask why is this happening now i could do without this this is not really what i would regard as advancing the gospel how come this is actually happening to me just now why am i more free why do i have suffering of this kind right now i could do without this have so many other things that i could be doing well look at it through the lens that paul is using the overall government of god the way that god in his wisdom arranges things beyond our human expectations and he's saying it's known now throughout the whole of caesar's household throughout the whole imperial guard that my imprisonment is for christ you can just picture the same can't you when i don't know how long these soldiers would have to do in terms of shifts when they're chained to the apostle and would they be doing eight hours twelve hours doesn't really matter but just imagine uh for a moment there's the soldier there coming to the end of his shift and the one who comes to relieve him as as he brings the chain that's attached to paul's ankle and attaches it then to his replacement guard he'll say something to him you know he says listen to this guy i've never heard anything like this and for all that's happened to this man all i've heard throughout my 12-hour shift here is about this jesus and this man is rejoicing in this jesus this is quite amazing and this man goes back then has his dinner has a supper whatever it is and he tells his mates around the table then he's just come from the prison he's just come from from paul's cell and he says i want to tell you something about this man this is this is quite extraordinary see jesus is being made known throughout the imperial guard and even by pagan soldiers the message of christ jesus being paul's lord being in charge of paul's life and i can imagine paul would have been speaking to them and speaking to those who came to visit him about jesus and about his death on the cross his resurrection paul would certainly not have left any of that out every opportunity would have presented jesus to him so you see he's saying this is now what is being known throughout the whole imperial guard that my imprisonment is for christ christ has been made known in the imperial guard through the imprisonment of this faithful apostle the focus has come to be on jesus but not only that it's not just in in the emperor's household that this is happening you're saying also verse 14 most of the brother most of the brothers having become confident in the lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear he's saying let me take you outside the imperial palace let me take you outside he's saying to the philippians to what's happening in the city to what's happening in with regard to my fellow christians and your fellow christians there through my imprisonment they are much more bold to speak the word without fear now we're not told exactly the details of how that comes about how that happened that they were made more bold what was it about paul's imprisonment that really gave them the boldness but however it is it was that imprisonment and what paul was under it and how paul was conducting himself everything to do with that situation he is saying they have become more confident in the lord by my imprisonment so they are much more bold to speak the word without again fear the word chains he's using they are more confident in the lord by my chains you know we bless the lord tonight for our freedom it's a precious precious thing for the many aspects of that freedom that we have the freedom we have in our circumstances in our nation in our locality freedom to come to church freedom to preach the gospel freedom to witness for christ and there are places in the world where that is not possible there are many places tonight where christians are prevented from meeting with each other meeting with others does that mean god is inactive does it mean that where there is persecution against christians the gospel is inevitably being stemmed and held back no of course it doesn't and we pray that where persecution is in place in the world that through that itself god will advance his cause god will still cause others to hear about jesus to hear about christ to come to know christ to come to know that these christians even in their suffering are still worshiping the lord and still through to christ so there's the gospel's advance he's saying it's advanced in caesar's household in the imperial guard even the bodyguards of cereal it sees that i've come to understand and to know my imprisonment is for christ christ is being made known throughout caesar's household but it's also secondly he's talking about not only the gospels advance but he goes on to speak about mixed motives on the part of those who are preaching the gospel mixed motives yet christ is proclaimed some indeed preach christ from from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill the latter do it out of love knowing that i am put here for the defense of the gospel the former proclaimed christ out of rivalry not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment now he's talking here about two very different types of of motives two very different types of of purpose on the part of those who are preaching the gospel some are doing it just to try and add to paul's difficulties which is a terrible thing why would you do that just because they don't like paul they want to actually see paul surpassed they want people just to ignore him and to look at themselves instead paul's absence by imprisonment obviously left a gap in the church at the time a gap in terms of serving the lord openly and here were two types of people who were really trying to fill that gap there were those who were not at all happy with paul and didn't nepal didn't appreciate at all what who paul was or what he was about and so they went about preaching the gospel as his rivals they envied him they wanted to make life difficult for him they wanted to need to aggravate his sufferings that's what he's saying thinking to add to my afflictions they weren't preaching the gospel sincerely but in order to try and make things more difficult for me they were preaching christ with that motive with that purpose with that mindset we're preaching to outdo paul we're not given details but possibly something like the number of people that have been converted through them or the prestige that they may have in the church whatever it was it doesn't matter really they were doing this to humiliate him to advance themselves to make things as difficult as possible for him you wouldn't expect that in a preacher of the gospel would you but that's what he's saying but the others she said are doing it out of love those who loved paul and were loved by him knowing that i am put here for the defense of the gospel the way that i'm situated here for the defense of the gospel so he was saying here those that actually are doing it out of love appreciate what why i'm here and appreciate what's happening through me and they're not wanting to make things more difficult for me indeed they're wanting to encourage me is what he means they are preaching out of good will they have a sincere motive knowing that i am put here for the defense of the gospel again the words there mean put here mean appointed by god here placed by god here that's what they know now paul knows that they love him and that he loves them just as these philippians do back in philippi that he's writing to and i can assure you that those who are preachers of the gospel very much appreciate the love of those that they preach to those that are a congregation of of people such as you are yourselves under our ministry it's a wonderful thing to know of being loved of being appreciated we trust that that will be something that will never never leave either from my point of view or from yours because for the apostle that was really hugely important that he loved them and they loved him those preachers who were preaching sincerely not out of rivalry not out of false motives but actually out of a sincere desire for the gospel and for paul himself knowing he says that i'm here i'm put here placed here for the defense of the gospel now the word defense there is also important it's a word that from which you get the subject we do in college or seminary it's called apologetics it's not just to deal with defending the gospel and gospel truth and defending the faith the christian faith it also includes how you actually present that faith it hasn't at the idea of presenting it in a reasoned and cogent fashion not just throwing it together any old way but actually reasoning it through thinking it through presenting it in a way that really seeks to grip people's minds this is actually something you find back in acts chapter 24 the word is used there let me just find the text and read what it's saying there this is this is again paul as he's actually preaching the gospel and in chapter 24 and verse 25 of the book of acts um he's there uh preaching to to felix felix came and his wife thursilla he sent for paul and heard him speak about faith in christ jesus and as paul reasoned about righteousness and self-control and coming judgment felix was alarmed and said go away for the present when i get an opportunity i will summon you there's an example of apologetics and an example of paul presenting the gospel in a way that reasons with his hearer he's actually presenting the truth to felix because his reasoning there about righteousness and self-control and coming judgment and it gets to felix's conscience and that's the business of of preaching the gospel it's not just telling nice stories it's not there just to present things factually as they happened in the way the bible records them it's actually to present an argument for christ an argument for god an argument against worldliness whatever it is but it's done apologetically we're trying to we're hoping it's that anyway and so that's what they were doing they were doing this out of love knowing that he was set there by god for the defense for the uh for the presentation of the gospel meaningfully even to those soldiers in prison so they had mixed motives some of uh rivalry they're seeking to add to us affliction some out of love knowing that he was there for the defense of the gospel so what is paul's reaction now here is the remarkable thing you might expect him to say well i'm really happy that those people who love me and who are loved by me and who are sincerely preaching the gospel i'm really happy that they are doing that but i'm not at all happy with these other folk well what he's saying is what then only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth christ is proclaimed and in that i am rejoicing where is he he's in prison what are the circumstances he's chained to a prison guard day in day out he knows there are people out there preaching the gospel trying to actually add to his afflictions but he's saying as long as they're preaching christ i rejoice in that whatever their motive isn't preaching christ as long as it's christ that's proclaimed i can rejoice in that i can get over the fact that they're trying to add affliction to me in my circumstances that they're trying to make things more difficult for me than ever before i can accept that i can put up with that what i could not put up with he might be saying is if they were not preaching christ and you see it's christ that's been made known throughout caesar's palace through his household now we have to be careful because it's not at all saying to us he's not at all saying in this that he was indifferent or didn't really care about the content of preaching that's not what he's saying he's not saying he's indifferent to what these people were preaching all you've got to do is read the letter to the galatians for example to know that paul was absolutely jealously protective of the content of the gospel and the content of gospel preaching but what he's really saying is it's not so much the the how and the why of their preaching how they're preaching or why they're preaching it's what they're preaching or who they're preaching christ is proclaimed and in that i rejoice and i'll continue to rejoice he sing in the next verse yes and i will rejoice because it is christ that's preached and when he's saying christ is preached he means christ in his death christ in his resurrection christ in his person who he is what he has done what it's about sadly there are many large church buildings tonight throughout our nation that are either fast emptying or have long since emptied why because christ was not preached because the gospel was not presented in a biblical way many liberal churches throughout the world are fast hemorrhaging membership because it's not christ that's being preached because they're not true to the gospel now we're not elevating ourselves and saying this pretending that we're actually far better than any others that's not what we're about but we want to jealously guard the gospel and the content of the gospel and the core of the gospel and the christ of the gospel you haven't come here tonight to hear my views on climate change or on politics or on the environment or in the latest movements in the premier league or the latest movements in the celebrity world you've come here tonight because you're saying i'm a needy sinner show me christ isn't it show me jesus tell me about jesus tell me the old old story bring me to the cross take me to the open sepulcher so that i can really understand something more of what christ has done for me that's what is being preached and paul is rejoicing in that and that's where we need to rejoice if christ is being preached whatever other things may accompany that even sad things like false motives as long as it's the pure gospel and as long as it's christ that's being preached then paul can rejoice in that and so also can we and so friends that's tonight paul's presentation of the gospel's advance not despite his sufferings but through his sufferings not despite the fact that he's in prison but even because of the fact that he's in prison and this has led to it being known throughout all of caesar's household that his imprisonment his chains are for christ others have been emboldened to speak the gospel uh to preach the gospel and speak about jesus outside of and throughout the city itself and paul continues to rejoice that in every way whether in pretense or in truth christ is proclaimed and in that i rejoice isn't that what you rejoice in as well but this is a place that's associated with long long years of the preaching of christ christ being presented christ being proclaimed christ being exalted christ being glorified christ being offered in the gospel to needy sinners like you and i may it never be anything less let's pray lord our god we give thanks tonight for the core substance of the gospel in jesus christ our lord we give thanks for the availability of life to us in him and we give thanks tonight o lord that you have once again reminded us of the importance of jesus himself jesus in his death and in his resurrection and his triumph over sin and his exaltation to glory in the prospect of his return lord our god we pray your blessing that we too may and whatever sufferings are entailed in our following you that we we may take heed of such passages in your word that remind us that you can do great things through the suffering of your people and that even through that confinement you are able to blow apart the defenses of the world and we do ask that you would continue to give us that perspective and that outlook even in our own day hear us now we pray and accept this our worship for jesus sake amen let's conclude our worship this evening we're singing from psalm 138 that's in the sing-sams version psalm 138 and it's on page 179 from verse 4 down as far as verse 8 oh lord let all earth's kings give praise when from your mouth they hear your word let them extol the ways of god for grace the glory of the lord although the lord god dwells on high the lowly person he protects whereas the proud and haughty one he knows a far off and rejects although i walk a troubled path your tender care preserves my life you raise your hand against my foes your right hand saves me from their strife the lord will certainly fulfill for me the purpose he commands your love endures forever lord preserve the works of your own hands these verses o lord let all earth kings give praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] hello [Music] [Music] now may the grace of the lord jesus christ the love of god the father and the communion of the holy spirit be with you now and evermore amen [Music] you

Channel: Stornoway Free Church of Scotland

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Id: 1K1Mmh__TTg

Length: 60min 20sec (3620 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021